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Reading the sutras
I found this site http://buddhasutra.com/index.html. Does anyone know if the translations are adequate? Any one recommend a better site?
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Comments
I don't know if this site is better, I haven't seen the site you have mentioned, but it is certainly a very good site for Sutta study.
It is important to distinguish between the Pali Suttas (which many scholars and historians believe originate closer to the time when the Buddha was alive) and the Mahayana Sutras and not confuse the two.
Another thing worth mentioning is the Chinese Agamas. Some scholars claim that if a certain teaching is mentioned in the Chinese Agamas AND the Pali Suttas, then it is much more likely to be a close representation of what the Buddha taught because the two could not have easily influenced and changed one another after their original writing due to the (general) lack of contact between the Chinese and Indians. Even though schools changed and various doctrines may have been added or dropped a long time after the Buddha passed away, it is unlikely that both the Suttas AND the Agamas would have changed in the same way. This is why similarities between the two are generally considered more reliable.
Also, one more piece of advice from Venerable Nyanatiloka: Never interpret the whole of the Suttas in light of one or two obscure passages. Instead, interpret the one or two obscure passages in light of the rest of the teachings.